Guin took the first step forward, placing herself between the six approaching wraiths and the garuli behind her. Ibraxis started to play his bones, muttering unintelligible words in his own tongue. Various animations of green, gold, and red enveloped her, and her status bar glowed with several new buffs.

Tea also began to play his lute—only a little better than it had been the night before—causing another set of flashing symbols to join her growing list of status enhancements. Guin smirked as the sounds of their music filled the air. Background music? She mused. The two styles—or maybe just Tea’s apparent inability to play his instrument—did not complement each other, but she appreciated it all the same. The game lacked a certain ambiance without background music of its own, and it added a certain levity.

Guin slammed the butt of her spear into the ground.

As if they had been waiting for them to have set their determination, the six wraiths screamed at her in unison. The first thing she needed to do was draw their agro. They’re still so high up! She growled and shot another long arc of wind blade toward them, catching them and pausing their pursuit. Their slow movement speed was a boon, and with any luck, her [Chilling Aura] would further improve their situation.

“You need to buy me at least five minutes,” Ibraxis said. She hadn’t noticed that the drums had stopped, but when she turned, she saw that he was keeling. He very quickly made a small magic circle out of the dirt in front of him with a small stone braiser in the center. As he spoke, he took out a thick candle from his robes, placed it in the braiser, and lit it by scratching a knife against a flint. “Buy me five minutes, and I’ll do the rest of the work.”

“Five minutes,” she repeated as she watched him burn a sweet-smelling leaf in the candle’s flames. It looked like a very well-practiced ritual; he barely looked at what he was doing. “No problem,” she said dubiously, staring at the shades descending upon her.

Tsk-ing, she sent another arc through the air and aimed her spear back behind the head of one of the wraiths in the middle—this time not hesitating to jerk her body around—and she caught them all in the back. Gaining a bonus in damage for the back attack, she took a moment to enjoy the creature's screams before they turned back to her in anger, all reaching, trying to catch her in their long, shadowy claws.

Oh no, not again! she told them in her mind and focused on Ibraxis’s shadow again, stepping into it before rushing back out.

Her sudden disappearance left them in a state of confusion, but the moment one laid its sight back on her, it pointed and dove at a speed that shocked her. Guin stopped mid-run and shot another round of her wind spell at them—but this time, it did nothing to slow them in their path.

“Oh, shit!” Guin spat and anchored herself as best she could with her spear in front of her. The shade that had spotted her flew in quickly, its sword-like claws growing as it approached. She managed to push one of its hands off its target path, but the other caught her arm and leg, stabbing them clean through.

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Crying out in pain, Guin swung at it again—but almost regretted the action as it pulled out its claws in response, ripping open the wounds as if they were a serrated knife. Instantly, Guin’s health bar dropped to 50%, and she fell to the ground.

Standing and taking the damage had not been the greatest of tactical decisions.

“Guin!” Tea cried as she saw musical notes of gold flowing around her. She pushed herself back up and briefly watched as her health ticked up slowly. A HoT spell similar to her hymn, she wasn’t sure if it would be of much use to her against this number of powerful enemies. “Are you all right?”

“Fine!” Guin shouted as he started trotting over. “Get back toward Ibraxis!” This was an enemy she had vastly underestimated. Ibraxis wasn’t kidding when he told her that she had been lucky. “Shit!” she cried out again as she stumbled.

Forcing herself to stand, she grimaced. It was only pain, she told herself over and over again—and it was just a game. Picking up her spear again, she swiped at the ones that grew closer to her, then let out another wind blade.

A wave of exhaustion hit her, and her heart plummeted as she watched them loom. Pushing off with her spear, she jumped back as two of the wraith’s nails dragged across the stones that she had been standing on with a hair-raising sound. A third one flanked her on her right and shaved off another good 30% of her health. She countered but knew from the feel that she had dealt minor damage to it.

“Ibraxis, any way you could make what you’re doing go any faster?” Guin called back as she watched Tea’s spells struggling to deal with her falling health bar. “I could use some backup...” She mumbled, then shadow stepped onto the heads of one of the statues.

Could I get them to chase me? She wondered, looking around. Thanks to the flames, ample shadows were spreading throughout the room. If all she needed to do was keep them away from Ibraxis and Tea, all she really needed to do was keep agro long enough without taking any more damage. She eyed Tea, wondering what his range was, but before she could ask, the six rushed her, and she stepped into the shadow of another statue. Watching her health bar carefully, she sent out another arc of wind.

Suddenly, water burst forth from the blanket of moss that contained it, spraying them all in a cold mist. Great, solid tongues of it rose up, lashing out wildly. Guin gaped as they waved and spiraled over her head, the ethereal blue glinting as purple reflected and refracted, bending shapes to make a kaleidoscope of color. It was beautiful. It was horrifying.

What now? Her mind went as shock and dread filled her. She tried to maintain her position, but her legs gave out from under her as the water splashed around. The six wraiths hissed at the change in their environment but seemed to dismiss it as they flew at her instead.

Guin stared at them, her spear loose in her hands. Was she really just going to give up like this? Sighing in aggravation, she stumbled up, gritting her teeth as she set her spearhead forward.

“No way,” she told herself. She wasn’t alone now. And even if she was, what good would it have done her to give up?

As she went to swipe at them once again, as futile as it might have been, the tongues of water whipped out. Seeing them, Guin braced herself for impact—an impact that did not come. For her, at least.

Her eyes carefully fluttered open, and she saw that each of the six wraiths had been wrapped up. Shrieking as the water began to engulf them, the wraiths struggled—but the tongues turned into a watery prison as they spun into balls.

“Sorry,” Ibraxis’s voice came over from behind her. Guin turned to see him and Tea walking up. “That took a bit longer than I expected. The water here is shockingly polluted.”